In November, 2008, I was contacted out of the blue by an editor at becker&mayer! (the exclamation mark is part of their name) to see if I would be interested in writing the text for a book commissioned by Barnes & Noble. That email led to The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, which was published less than a year later. It was a different kind of deal than traditional publishing. B&N ordered a certain quantity of books, so the entire run was delivered on publication and I was paid up front on a per-copy basis for the entire order. No returns, no royalty statements.
The book proved popular, and that initial order sold out, putting it out of print. Every now and then I’d reach out to b&m to see if B&N might be interested in a second printing. In February 2010, the bookstore chain placed a second order only slightly smaller than the initial one. Eventually, all those copies were sold, too.
A couple of years later, I pinged b&m again and they agreed to a new edition with additional text; however, due to the increased cost of paper and manufacturing, this second edition lost the pouches with removable content. Still, that edition sold out, too, after a while. There was also an Italian translation of the original version.
The book was garnering high prices on the secondary market but was no longer available in stores. From time to time, I’d query b&m, but nothing happened. I recently discovered the publisher had been acquired by Quarto, an international publisher with offices in the UK and the US, selling books into 50 countries. Last May, I queried Quarto through a general submissions email address. That was forwarded to someone from becker&mayer! and I got a response less than a week later. They wanted to revise and expand the book and I met with the editor via Zoom to discuss a proposal.
That is all preamble, leading up to the forthcoming publication of Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of his Work, Life and Influences. While this book contains the material I wrote for the Companion (some of it modified and updated), it has been greatly expanded. It has twice as much text and covers all of King’s books. Much of his oeuvre had been mentioned only in passing and—in some cases, not at all—in the earlier book. So, this new book, which is divided roughly by decade, is a much more complete exploration of everything up to Fairy Tale.
Here is the cover copy:
Explore the evolution and influences of Stephen King’s body of work over his nearly fifty-year career, and discover how the themes of his writing reflect the changing times and events within his life. Featuring archival photos and documents from King’s personal collection, this chronological history delves into the stories behind how his novels, novellas, short stories, and adaptations came to be.
With critically acclaimed titles that have also been turned into blockbuster sensations like It and Carrie, King’s work has stood the test of time across decades. This history of the writer’s struggles, triumphs, bestsellers, lesser-known stories, collaborations, and more makes the perfect addition to any Stephen King fan’s collection.
Celebrate the beloved author and King of Horror with this informational and entertaining look inside King’s most iconic titles and the culture they have created.
Some of the new material I wrote includes deep dives into the history and geography of Castle Rock and Derry, which was a lot of fun. Of particular note, this book is not a Barnes & Noble exclusive. It will be available wherever books are sold, in all of the English-language countries Quarto covers. That means it will be more generally available than the previous Companion, which delights me.
The book will be out on September 20, 2022—a highly significant date in the world of Stephen King—and it is available for pre-order now. You can see the table of contents on this page (Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of his Work, Life and Influences) together with a list of links to places where you can order it at the bottom.
